oh lawd...

I saw it coming, but it's finally happened. I'm officially out of LP storage space. I don't have the wherewithal to go through and get a count, but I'd estimate I'm somewhere around 600 LPs at this point. A respectable, though I'd like to think not excessive collection. (But really, a geek like me is unlikely to call any collection "excessive.")

Thus begins another media storage crisis. Two years ago it was books and files. Got that taken care of. Last year it was cds. I was able eventually find a storage unit to match the two I already had. Now this. It isn't a pressing issue. For now, they're cozy, and I don't plan on doing any serious record shopping until my next Pittsburgh visit in May. And I will likely not purchase any new storage until after I move in August. But I've started to look.

I found this great blog/website, Living With Music. Informative reviews and links to a lot of great products, but most are European, and out of my price range. I love my music, but I'm not interested in spending $1000+ on storage. I've found Gothic Cabinet Craft, which looks to be domestic, quality and affordable. I can put this on the backburner for now, but it's on my mind. The current storage (which is actually an old bookshelf into which I attached supports) will do just fine for the remainder of my time here. But I'm curious - what do y'all use for LP storage?

I think my record collection has grown most significantly in grad school. This is curious, as the wrecka stows in Iowa City are crappy. But I of course make a point to spend a good deal of time and money every time I visit Jerry's Fine Used Records in Pittsburgh. I've also started to find myself in the store having the internal dialogue, "Piss! Do I have this? I can't remember!" I have actually come back to Iowa recently with a 12" that I already owned. Snap. To that end, I'm also looking for software (free) or a web service (free) where I can organize my collection. Really, I'm interested in something where I can just type in the UPC and get all of the info. Suggestions welcome.

record shopping in Pittsburgh

Greetings from the Steel City. Today was spent record shopping, something I look forward to when I'm in town. Iowa City just doesn't have much to offer in the way of good record shopping, so it's always a treat to do some digging at Jerry's Fine Used Records when I'm home.



Over the years, I've found that my favorite way to experience Jerry's is to go alone and go early, giving myself ample time to dig through the seemingly endless collection vinyl Jerry's offers. Today was one of those days. I would venture to say that I spent between 90 minutes and two hours there. $60 later, I came out with a stack of roughly 15 LPs/12"s. Being that record shopping in Iowa is generally fruitless, I allow myself to splurge when I go to Jerry's. As always, I found I couple of things I was specifically looking for, but mostly I came back with dusty gems found by digging through the store. Mostly I came out with a lot of funk records. Excellent.

Don Lindich recently did a great piece on Jerry's (with lots of great photos) on his Sound Advice blog. Check it out. A warning to those of you that have never been to Jerry's: the photographs may give you a heart attack.

Jerry also does a great deal of online auctioning through his site - you can find a lot of great stuff there too if you aren't in the Pittsburgh area.

Jerry's Records website

I also stopped by Attic Records.

I literally hadn't been there since high school, so it was about time. I recalled them having a really good selection of 12 inches. They still do, although that area of the store is incredibly difficult to navigate.



To their credit, they were hit incredibly hard by a flood in 2005, so it's good to see them still there at any rate. I restrained myself there, picking up only Marvin Gaye's Super Hits LP, which I've been after for months. (It's the only collection that gathers all of those great early singles like "Hitch Hike," "Ain't That Peculiar," "Wonderful One," etc.) So I left pleased. I saw a lot of stuff I wanted, but figured I'd already spent enough money for the day.

When I'm in Pittsburgh, I also tend to make the rounds to various locations of The Exchange (a regional used cd chain), but that will have to wait until later.

I'll have some more odds and ends from the web in my next post, so stay tuned.